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Pols, pundits weigh in on NSA

But vast changes to major national security laws like the PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act seem unlikely — although some lawmakers will push for more transparency and some tinkering around the edges.

Lawmakers also might seek changes in security clearance procedures, or contracting rules surrounding classified information as a result of the news that 29-year-old Booz Allen contractor Edward Snowden leaked information.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she’s open to a public hearing on NSA surveillance. But during an interview Monday, she seemed cool to reinventing the FISA programs even if she also wants her Intelligence Committee colleagues’ suggestions.

“I think they will remain in place,” Feinstein said of the FISA provisions, which allow monitoring of electronic communications abroad and acquisition of business records to protect against terrorism. “Nothing is static; things can be changed. But I think we need to have a full understanding of their merit, of how they’re carried out, their legality. We know these programs are legal.”

For now, Feinstein is concentrating on educating her colleagues. After holding one classified briefing attended by 27 senators last week, Feinstein said Monday that she plans to hold another classified briefing with Obama administration security officials on Thursday.

“There’s no reason for anybody to say they haven’t been briefed,” she said, responding to lawmakers who say they are unaware of the programs’ reach. Feinstein periodically has sent letters, advising members that they can view classified information on the use of FISA. She said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is the only lawmaker who specifically informed her that he had done so.

In the Senate, a band of pro-privacy crusaders — including Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — are readying to push forward in their quest to implement more transparency. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) have indicated they back that effort.

“This revelation is wake-up call to Americans that Congress has passed, and [continues] to pass, [legislation] without regard for our Constitution,” Massie tweeted on Monday. “I campaigned against the PATRIOT Act for this precise reason.”

Wyden and Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) are members of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee and warned generally about the programs to collect email and cellphone traffic before they were publicly revealed last week. They want to shed more light on FISA and pushed amendments last December to require a report on the privacy implications of FISA surveillance. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Lee introduced another amendment to require declassification of significant FISA court opinions.

But the legislation that serves as the legal basis for the NSA surveillance — the PATRIOT Act and FISA — seems to be relatively popular in Congress, even if some lawmakers believe it is now being misinterpreted. Party leaders — with Durbin as the notable exception — have largely defended the use of FISA as a critical tool in stopping terrorists.